Takes a mouth to be brave
by callmesandy
Summary: "He done you wrong," Pacey said. "Men suck," Jen said. "I wish I could confirm that," Jack said. (Dawson's Creek AU, Jen/Pacey.)


For captainamergirl. Not mine, no profit garnered. Title from Gina Keicher's Not Your Radio. Thanks to A for beta help!

* * *

Joey Potter went to France and never came back. She technically came back for a few weeks, of course, but she'd already found this scholarship that would keep her in France for another year. Dawson moped and Jen just got over him. They were friends, and they'd both been projecting on each other, creating needs and wants that were immaterial in the cold light of day.

Despite all of that, it was a pretty good year for Jen. Andie, Pacey's girlfriend, was super intent on having friends who were girls and Jen knew as soon as she met Jack they would be friends for life. Pacey wasn't all bad. Somehow whenever Jen was bored or missed New York or felt lonely, someone called or dropped by. Andie wanted to study. Jack, even before he realized he was gay, thought copious amounts of coffee was a perfect distraction. Dawson had deep thoughts about movies or the nature of love and it was fun to talk to him about that now that romantic love between them was purely hypothetical.

Pacey showed up to goof off. "It's a lot of work, Lindley, being a great boyfriend and awesome student and supportive friend of the friend of Dorothy."

"It's not work being Jack's friend," Jen said.

"No, but it's work reassuring Andie that she didn't say anything bad when she admitted sometimes Will and Grace is kind of boring," Pacey said.

"I can see that, I can picture it pretty clearly," Jen said. "So instead we're at a roller rink, not skating."

"Look, I'm great at skating, you should see me on ice. And I don't mind this version of skating either, but I feel like somehow Andie would sense that I put on roller skates and she would be drawn here and we'd be having this date a lot," Pacey said. "I'm not up for that."

"But you're great at skating," Jen said, laughing. "And the food here is horrible."

"But everyone is either younger than us or doesn't want to acknowledge they know us. In a small town, Lindley, we call that heaven," Pacey said.

"I've been here long enough, you don't need to teach me small town ways," Jen said.

After Andie had her breakdown and went away and Dawson went to Ohio to spend summer with his mother, it was just the three of them. Jack had moved in with Jen, and all Pacey did was brood. He even showed up for breakfast at Grams's so he could brood in company.

Jack said, "I signed us up for a class."

"No," Jen said.

"Absolutely not," Pacey said, gulping down orange juice.

"It's for two weeks and it starts Monday," Jack said. "It's an environmental marine biology thing and we get credit for it at school."

"I could use that," Pacey said.

Jack said, "You got straight Bs, are you turning into Andie?"

"I have a long record of academic failure and low expectations to counter," Pacey said. "Andie would want me to. She does want me to."

"Fine," Jen said. "Fine."

They spent three days at the beach and disgusting parts of the coast, and two days in the classroom the first week. On the first day, in the first hour at the classroom, Jen had passed Jack a note pointing out the cute redhead boy sitting in front of Pacey was surely gay.

It turned out the redhead was, and they basically didn't see Jack at all. "Dumped for a cutie," Pacey said. "Don't you hate it when your friends do that?"

"Not at all," Jen said, brushing hair out of her eyes. It was near the end of the second and last week, today they were doing a beach clean up. "I'm excited for Jack. They're moving super slow, but I think they might kiss."

"Good for Jack," Pacey said. He held up three clearly used condoms stuck together. "This is disgusting."

"But it's safe disgusting. We should applaud their commitment to safe sex and condemn their environmental destruction."

"All hail safe sex," Pacey said.

They were wearing thick gardening gloves and yellow vests, throwing garbage into clearly marked bright orange bags.

Jen dragged their one filled bag back to the pile the class was creating. She walked by some drunk frat boys, one of whom simply tossed an empty bottle off to the side of his blanket. "I'm standing right here," she said, looking at them with disdain.

"So fucking what," the bottle tosser said. He actually threw another empty right at her. She dodged easily and kept walking.

She got two steps before Pacey was standing in between her and the frat boys. "What the fuck is wrong with you, man? Apologize," he said. "And pick up your shit."

"What's wrong with you, man?" The bottle tosser got up and glared at Pacey. Pacey was taller by a few inches but the frat boy was more muscle and alcohol.

Jen actually screamed like a girl straight out of some 50s movie when the fight inevitably broke out. Then she took a deep breath and remembered she was from New York City. She grabbed an empty bottle and started hitting the shin of one of the guys whaling on Pacey. "Take that, polluter," she muttered and nearly laughed at herself.

Of course it wasn't so funny when they were all dragged off by the cops. She sat in front of Chief Witter explaining, for the third time, what happened. "Pacey was standing up for me, that guy threw a bottle at me."

"Okay, okay," Chief Witter said.

She went with Jack to pick up Pacey from jail. "The conquering hero," Jack said.

Pacey looked awful, but he smiled at them. "Someone take pics, I want Andie to see it. Do you think she likes rugged, tough defenders of the ocean?"

"I'm sure she does," Jen said.

Pacey's black eye hadn't even healed when he and Jack got the bad news. "So like Joey, she's decided to move away," Jen said. "It's not specifically the same, because she's decided not to come back to Capeside. Andie decided to pursue academic excellence and be more stable."

"That sucks for Pacey and Jack," Dawson said. He'd been back a day and she was filling him in. "She's not coming back?"

"Her doctors and her father had a long talk about everything and they've all decided to send her to some boarding school in London, of all places, that will, to repeat, let her excel academically and stay sane," Jen said. She sighed. "Andie's had a lot of tearful phone calls, even with me, but she thinks it's a good idea, too."

"So she and Pacey are totally broken up? He's good for her," Dawson said.

"Yeah, but she doesn't want Pacey to miss out on anything when they won't see each other for months and months. I'm just guessing from Pacey's bitter comments and Jack's summaries," Jen said.

"Pacey and I can bond over our lost loves," Dawson said.

"That sounds like a night of agony and big words I will be skipping," Jen said.

"What do you and Jack talk about?"

"Lately? The cute boy he met at camp. He lives only one town over," Jen said.

"Well," Dawson said. "Since you and I are a no-go, maybe it's time for you and Pacey to date," Dawson said.

"Stop your compulsive pairing off, Dawson. Pacey is completely not looking for anyone right now," Jen said.

Pacey wasn't at all. He stared into space in class, Jen heard more than one teacher remark that Pacey was back to being himself. "It angers me," she said to Jack.

"You think we should make Pacey a good student again?" Jack looked skeptical. "My sister had an impressive will to accomplish. I don't think we do."

"And neither of us are in love with him," Jen said. "But he deserves a chance at college. If he slips now, when he makes up his mind that he wants that, it'll be too late."

"Oh, no," Jack said.

"Why are you being so mean?" Jen grabbed his coffee away from him.

"Because Andie keeps saying the same thing to me. Is she saying it to you, too? A guy can only take so much," Jack said.

"It sounds to me like you've been given a mission by the two most important women in your life," Jen said.

"I like how you think you've pushed my mom off the list," Jack said, without anger.

"Two of three most important women in your life," Jen said.

Jack, naturally, caved. He came up with the plan and explained it to Dawson and Jen. "Basically, let him be sad for 5 minutes, then make him study."

"That's a plan?"

"Yup," Jack said. "I've got football practice, so you two get started on that."

"I hate that guy," Dawson said, laughing. "Okay, I'll go first. You get Pacey after school tomorrow."

Pacey saw her coming when she stopped by his locker as school ended. "Lindley, I took multiple punches for you, are you really going to make me study now?"

"Witter, did you really just compare getting punched to studying?"

"No, studying lasts longer and is a lot more dull," Pacey said.

"What would motivate you?"

"Sex, love, rock and roll, drugs," Pacey said.

"I can tell you sex and drug stories," Jen said. "Some of them might be true."

Pacey actually grinned. "I forgot you have a dirty past."

"And yet, I never slept with one of my teachers," Jen said.

"Not as fun as you think," Pacey said. "Well, parts of it were even more fun than you think, but other parts …"

She actually got Pacey studying with her dangling carrot of fun stories from New York City. "I'm a small town boy, please dazzle me," he said.

After a week of Dawson and Jen ganging up on Pacey, his academics seemed back on track. "I bet you've run out of stories anyway, Lindley, so I just might as well bear down," he said.

"I haven't, actually," Jen said, with a little smirk.

"Vixen," Pacey said.

Dawson was the first of their foursome to pair off, he fell for the principal's cutie pie daughter. "Now just the three of us," Jack said. "Sad lonely losers, watching Dawson discover love and romance."

"What about your camp guy?"

"Pacey, bad subject," Jen said.

"Camp guy," Jack said. "Had a boyfriend in his hometown the whole time."

"He done you wrong," Pacey said.

"Men suck," Jen said.

"I wish I could confirm that," Jack said.

Pacey snort-laughed. "I like this, the dirty table. We have each other, at least, while we wallow in the world's inability to see how darned attractive the three of us are."

By New Year's, Dawson and Jack were off with their new dates. "It's sad Jack had to go two towns over to get a guy, but good for him for finding a nice one," Pacey said.

"With so so much pushing from me," Jen said.

"Now he gets to push alone," Pacey said with a little crotch thrust. The two of them were sitting in the freezing cold on Doug Witter's porch. "We should be partying like it's 1999."

"I think it isn't any longer," Jen said, looking down at her watch. "We missed it."

"I don't hear any sounds of imminent collapse from Y2K, it can't be 2000," Pacey said.

"Could you hear that from Capeside?" She poured another glass of champagne for Pacey. She didn't ask where he'd gotten it. They'd both had two glasses already. Jen definitely felt merry.

"Probably not," Pacey said, looking at her.

She knew it was coming, it felt like she was floating outside her body watching Pacey move closer to her and herself moving closer to him. Floating Jen approved, though. She was definitely back in her body when they finally kissed. It felt sweet to kiss and then something else was stirring in her and she turned towards him.

He sat back and said, "That was more fun than that time in the library."

"I am sitting on a step higher than you so it's probably easier on your back," Jen said.

Pacey said, "Do you want to take this inside?"

"What are your intentions, mister?"

"I don't know," Pacey said. "I have a dirty past."

Days later, it was time for the gloating chickens to come to roost. "I knew it," Dawson said. "I knew you two would get together."

"We just started dating, jeez, Dawson," Jen said. They had actually had sex in Doug's living room but while Dawson had done a lot of growing up, Jen knew better than to tell him that. Pacey would never tell, either. He was a good guy like that.

"Started dating is the same as get together, I didn't say you were going to get married and have kids," Dawson said.

"We're juniors in high school, Dawson, who would say we were going to get married and have kids?"

"People used to say that about me and Joey," Dawson said, a little sad.

"And they were imposing expectations on your relationship with your best friend that didn't help the relationship at all," Jen said.

"I am imposing no such expectations on you and Pacey," Dawson said. "I just thought you'd make a cute couple. You're sort of adorable. He's like a foot taller than you."

"That's your definition of adorable?" Jen laughed. "Stand here, you can watch the adorableness blossom."

She walked over to Pacey's locker and put her hand on his arm. "Dawson thinks we're adorable because you're taller than me."

"Any adorability is all on you," Pacey said.

"How do we go from friends and teasing to your frankly excessive flattery?" She knew she was blushing.

"I was bottling it all up before," Pacey said. "Also I feel a little bit of guilt that I've spent the last 3 months looking down your shirt without making it clear how much I enjoyed the view."

"I knew both those things," Jen said. "It's creepy, Pace, stop it."

"I just do it to you," Pacey said. "I'm a monogamous leer-er."

"That is not a compliment," Jen said. "Even if you think it is."

"Fine," Pacey said. He bent at the knees and kissed her. "Fine?"

"Fine," Jen said.

"I don't understand you," Jack said. "You've been dating someone, someone we know here in Capeside, for over a month with no drama. Something is going wrong."

"With everyone else," Jen said. "Me and Pacey are just fine."

"No, you need to start having problems," Jack said. "I'm pleading with you. You make my drama feel small and not so important."

"Your drama is small, Jack, but it's important to me," Jen said. She was looking at her manicure and deciding if she wanted to get the same color lipstick. Pacey never noticed her make up until about two hours into their hanging out. Then he'd say something about how pretty she was. She liked it. She was really into it, deliriously into dating someone who seemed to think she was the prettiest and best girl in town. No wonder Andie had fallen for the guy so hard. And the creepy teacher.

"Dawson listens better than you," Jack said.

"You wound me, Dawson is a horrible listener," Jen said. "He's getting better, but most of the time, he's a horrible listener."

"He understand drama," Jack said.

"Sorry," Jen said. "I'll try to screw up my lovely uplifting relationship just so I can be a better friend for you."

Pacey didn't agree so she abandoned the plan. "Let's just be happy, then," she said. "Screw Jack."

"I won't be doing that," Pacey said. "Besides, I listen to Dawson's drama all the time."

"You can take over listening to Jack's? He thinks I'm too happy, I told you."

"I like that he thinks that, though," Pacey said. He kissed her again. "Promise me you won't ever visit France or go to London, okay?"

"No deal, I love both places. I will try to avoid them until after high school," Jen said. "You really should be more worried about me going back to New York, thus giving you a trifecta of women leaving town after dating you."

"But your parents are there and you hate them," Pacey said.

"Right," Jen said. "Very true. Okay, crossing that one off, too."


End file.
